This winter there will be a lot more than just a ice-skating rink. | Photo by G. WIDMAN FOR GPTMC

The Blue Cross RiverRink on the Delaware Riverfront is turning twenty years old this year and the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation has some great sounding plans for the rink this year. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve the waterfront will be hosting a pop-up holiday village. The grounds will be designed by David Fierabend of Groundswell Design (Morgan’s Pier, PHS Pop Up Garden) and will feature a 400-person warming tent. The tent will house a temporary bar and restaurant by Four Corners’ Management (Avram Hornik) and chef George Sabatino. Sabatino will be serving up a menu of “winter favorites” in a restaurant surrounded by garden grounds of pine trees, fire pits and the ice rink.

So basically, what they’re creating is a winter equivalent to the PHS Pop Up Garden. Complete with the same designer and operator. Sounds good to us.

South Broad Street’s Boot and Saddle is reopening this September as a 150-person capacity live music destination with 60-seat bar and restaurant. Closed since 1995, the bar with the giant neon boot on the side will be reopening under the direction of R5 Productions, Sean Agnew, The Bowery Presents and FCM’s Mark Fichera and Avram Hornik.

In addition to local and national artists ranging from punk, metal and indie rock to electronic, singer-songwriters there will even be some country back at the old Country and Western bar.

While live music will be the attraction in the back room, the 60-seat main room and kitchen will be open seven days a week from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. The full-service bar will include ten local craft beers on tap plus seasonal beers from around the United States. Also expect to see some inexpensive crowd favorites.

Beginning on Thursday, May 16th, the pop-up garden will transform a vacant lot into a community space. Locust trees will provide shade for visitors who stop in for a drink and bite of food after work. Repurposed shipping containers will be used to serve the food and drinks. Vintage metal rocking chairs, a sculptural wall constructed from old shipping pallets and strings of market lights will warm the lot.

The garden will offer three varieties of craft beer, sangria and casual food by Sabatino.

The Passyunk Post is reporting that Avram Hornik is looking to reopen the Dolphin Tavern in short order. The sometimes awesome bar with occasional striptease has been closed since the summer.

Unclear is whether Hornik will continue the go-go past, either similar to what the Dolphin had going or more like what the Trestle Inn is today. We’ve got calls out to the involved parties and will update this post when we get more details.

Ground has been broken on Avram Hornik’s riverfront beer garden, Morgan’s Pier. The open air seasonal venue adjacent to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge is aiming to open by Thursday, May 24th. The spot will feature live music, dancing and food reminiscent of a backyard picnic-and barbecue. Landscape architect, Groundswell Design Group ,whose work you may have seen in the exterior area at Talula’s Garden, is working on the project. The firm is bringing in large Linden trees, repurposed and reclaimed elements and lighting to make for a welcoming and relaxing Delaware riverfront spot.

Avram Hornik has gotten the zoning go ahead from the city to open the Boot & Saddle on south Broad Street. The approval comes with the provision that neighbors not be affected by sound coming from the Boot & Saddle. Hornik plans to bring in R5 Productions to book music act at the refurbished space. The building has been vacant for more than a decade and construction will begin this summer and continue into 2013. And yes, the sign will be restored.

Avram Hornik’s plans for the Boot & Saddle on South Broad Street will be going in front of the neighborhood tonight. The South Broad Street Neighbors Association (SBSNA) Zoning meeting will hear the application for Hornik’s plans to turn the Boot & Saddle into a restaurant and bar with live music.

1131 South Broad Street (Boot & Saddle Bar) – The application is for the Use as a Restaurant/Bar where more than Fifty (50) people congregate, including D.J. Music, Live Entertainment, and/or self contained Sound System and Dancing by patrons, in the same building with accessory Office on the 2nd Floor, and a Single-Family Dwelling on the 3rd Floor. No Signs on this Application. Zoning Classification = C-2

Interested neighbors should show up to Morgan Conference Room of Methodist Hospital, Broad and Ritner Streets at 7 p.m.

The Philadelphia Daily News scores an interview with Avram Hornik, the man behind Lucy’s Hat Shop, Noche, three Drinker’s locations and more recently, Union Transfer and Ortlieb’s Lounge. It’s an interesting look at the man and how he now sees live entertainment as vital to the places he’s looking to open.

And as a follow-up Michael Klein gets the name for Hornik’s successor to Octo. The riverfront bar with live entertainment will be known as Morgan’s Pier, in honor of the first person to cross the Ben Franklin Bridge.